Miami: The turbulent divorce of a wealthy businessman that ended in his suicide

The death of Sergio Pino, a millionaire Cuban construction businessman in Miami (USA), in an apparent suicide, has shocked South Florida, which in recent weeks has followed the turbulent divorce from his wife, who accused him of trying to poison her and hiring hitmen.

Following the discovery of her body on Tuesday in her luxurious home in Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, the FBI and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported today that Pino, 67, had hired two teams to kill his wife, Tatiana Pino, from whom he separated two years ago and was in the process of divorcing.

In total, nine people were arrested in connection with the alleged murder-for-hire plots, authorities said at a press conference on Wednesday.

One of those “equipment” who allegedly tried to shoot Tatiana Pino last May was instructed to kill her before a divorce hearing, with the promise of a $150,000 bonus.

Sergio Pino, former president of the Latin American Association of Builders, had denied any connection with the attacks against his wife, whom he married in 1992.

The businessman died on Tuesday morning and his body was found by FBI agents who arrived at his mansion in the exclusive Cocoplum neighborhood, as part of a federal operation of “search and arrest”.

According to FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Veltri, the investigation began last year.

Veltri said that Pino died from a “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” although a medical examiner is investigating the cause of death of the founder of Century Homebuilders Group.

Officers stormed the home after no one answered their calls and found the body in one of the bedrooms. No one else was in the residence.

Sam Rabin, Sergio Pino’s lawyer, described the raid as “Unnecessary and unprecedented”, according to local channel ABC Miami. “We had offered that he would surrender to the authorities if necessary.”.

Four men are accused of hitting the woman’s car in August 2023 and running away. They also face charges of setting three vehicles on fire in two separate incidents at the residence of Pino’s sister-in-law.

Earlier this month, Tatiana said in a court motion that she believed Sergio tried to poison her, leaving her very ill and requiring treatment at several hospitals.

She said a doctor found fentanyl in her system, prompting her to move out of her home in 2022.

A successful exile

The prominent developer and philanthropist founded Century Homebuilders Group in the mid-1990s, with which he built more than 16,000 homes in South Florida.

He was also co-founder of US Century Bank, a bank in the 2000s that became the largest Hispanic financial institution in Miami.

However, in 2011, the bank found itself on the brink of collapse and received a federal enforcement order amid concerns about its financing and use of “internal loans“, the newspaper reports.

Born in Havana, Cuba in 1956, Sergio Pino fled to the United States with his family at the age of 12.

They moved into a small apartment in Miami and Pino worked part-time at a laundromat, where his mother ironed shirts and he cleaned hotel welcome mats, according to a profile reported by the Herald.

Pino graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1975 and attended Miami-Dade Community College (MDC) for two years, hoping to become an architect.

After borrowing $6,000 from his father in 1977 for a down payment on a small plumbing shop in Hialeah, that business, Century Plumbing, took off with vigor.

Today, under the name Century Wholesale, the company has operations in South Florida, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.